From the Teacher Support Network, www.teachersupport.info.

AGHAST AT ACRONYMS
It’s a strange feeling being in the role of newbie...

Julian Stanley is taking over the SecEd column previously written by Patrick Nash.

My first week at Teacher Support Network brings with it my first opportunity to write a column for this wonderful magazine. During the run up to me starting at our charity Group, reading SecEd helped me maintain a detailed understanding of the world around secondary schools and I feel very lucky to be able to contribute every fortnight. On top of its readability, as abbreviations go its name is much more memorable than the host of other acronyms I find myself having to learn in order to survive conversations about British education: from AWPU (Age-Weighted Pupil Unit) to MLT (Management and Leadership Team) and VTC (Virtual Teacher Centre).

Whether working in a school, a wellbeing charity, a CTC or the BSA, a new job represents a new challenge. Like any newly-installed employee I’ve become engaged by meeting new colleagues, excited by the prospect of achieving things with the organisation and invigorated by a totally new environment. However, just like the experiences many of you will have shared on your first day as a teacher or as an employee of a new school, I’m also anxious to get things right and make the right impression. There’s a lot to explore, from recent government initiatives to our own organisation’s history and of course that ever-expanding dictionary of abbreviations within the world of education. Occasionally, the scale of the task at hand can seem intimidating.

I’m joining Teacher Support Network after spending eight years as the Chief Executive and Managing Director of a large community charity, The Cresset, and its trading subsidiary in Peterborough. During my time at the organisation, we delivered a wide range of arts, educational and commercial services to schools and the general public with a special emphasis on young people, the elderly and those with disabilities. Before this I was Chief Executive of The Capital Link Partnership: a regeneration project where we piloted a Business Improvement District and a range of projects to improve safety in the West End of London in conjunction with the Metropolitan Police, Westminster Council and Private Landowners. For the last three years, I’ve also been headteacher at the Beth Shalom Sunday School in Cambridge, where I’ve taught for the last eight.

It’s a strange feeling being in the role of newbie myself after welcoming a host of new staff members in my various positions over the years. I’m reminded of the arrival or a former finance worker at one of my previous workplaces. Arriving right in the middle of the busiest period we had encountered, it would have been all too easy to forget about a genuine welcome for our new colleague; particularly as his role required a great deal of individual work away from the rest of the staff and was reliant on the unique skills of his trade. While our induction processes were formalised, comprehensive and in-depth - and his areas of responsibility clearly defined – he came to me after two weeks to express his thanks for two staff members in particular for making him feel welcome. His co-workers had gone out of their way to explain all the little – but fundamentally important – details of his workplace: where people normally went to eat at lunchtime, where the toilets were on the top floor, how to find the copy room and even when best to catch his colleagues at their least frantic to discuss joint issues.

Beyond signposting, they also recognised how overwhelming some of the particular aspects of our organisation could seem to a newcomer. We had quite a large number of staff members, and they had sat with him one lunchtime and written down everyone’s names and positions to try and save the inevitable embarrassment of forgetting the long list of first names, nicknames and job titles with which he was suddenly confronted.

They’d also told him not to hesitate to call either of them if he needed help getting his head round any of the full catalogue of jargon, acronyms and codes which our organisation deployed. While the abbreviations for partner organisations, departments or account codes may have become second nature to many of us who worked there, it was an infuriating list for anyone new to the team.

It’s these kind of details in a new working environment that can be the most elusive and intimidating. As I’ve learnt from my time at the Sunday School, this applies to an organisation dedicated to learning as much as a charity or business. For this reason, it is crucial that managers and school leaders not only create the formal induction procedures required or themselves take an active role in welcoming a new member of staff but also work to creating a hospitable atmosphere for those beginning their teaching careers or moving to a new school community. As my new organisation knows from its in-depth and extensive contact with teachers, NQTs and experienced staff in new positions are amongst the most likely to experience the common mental health problems that teaching can induce – stress, anxiety and depression. In order to safeguard the wellbeing of these teachers, schools leaders – perhaps more than managers at any other organisation – must focus their efforts on ensuring the needs and concerns of new arrivals to the team are addressed.

I’ve been made to feel very welcome at Teacher Support Network and am very much looking forward to contributing to the charity’s efforts to improve the wellbeing of teachers across Great Britain. I hope I can share some of our ideas and work through this column, which I’ll write again in a fortnight. In the meantime, I’ll be making every train journey armed with the 24-page list of acronyms that my new colleagues have prepared. From the top: AT – Attainment Target. BEI – British Education Index. CA – Classroom Assistant…